Snowdon, Yesterday Morning

This was a last-minute jaunt out to do a classic ride that we've been meaning to tick off the list for ages, and it was well worth the effort. We set off up the Llanberis path at 6.30am after stupid early starts or overnight stays nearby. The route up was about 60% rideable, I reckon, and we managed it in 2h15 without killing ourselves. It was spectacular on the top, with broken clouds blowing over a summit coated in deep frost, looking down on an inversion on one side and clear hills on the other. We rode (mostly) down the Ranger path and in spite of two punctures in Telegraph valley we still got back down just after 10am and were home early for bonus brownie points.

The Ranger is a fearsome bit of track for mere mortals like me; I have now upgraded my attitude to those who can ride it all from 'respect' to 'grovelling obeisance'. I'm happy to acknowledge that I'm not a brilliant technical rider, but I am quite happy battering down most stuff in the Peaks - this was the first time I've ever really thought "Hmm, maybe I should get some body armour..." Fantastic fun, though, in an awe-inspiring setting. It truly was one of those days that reminds you why you ride your bike.

Cheers all! Nice pics Saxabar. It must have been your High Roller tracks that I spotted on the way up.

I think the early start was critical, apparently the weather turned nasty in the afternoon so we were really lucky; it also meant that the light was lovely at 9ish when we were coming down. And there were very few walkers coming up...

I can see how it could be a favourite ride, but I think I need to practice my smashing-over-massive-rocks skills before I can really make the most of it.

Out of interest, has anyone ridden down the Rhyd Ddu path? The ridge descent on that looked very appealing indeed from a distance.

We did Snowdon in March, our weather left a bit to be desired but it was still awesome! I'm not really a fan of techy rocky stuff but really enjoyed it and rode the majority of it. Surprisingly all 3 of us made it down with no pinch flats. At work at the minute so can't get onto YouTube so i'll have a watch when i get home!

Nah, if you get chance you should go for it! The two guys I did it with were on a Soul and a 456 respectively and they had fun pretty much all the way down (bar punctures). I was on my Canyon FS, but there were only a few bits where it helped much. The really rough stuff is properly mental and requires balls of steel more than big travel - but it's only maybe 5% of the downhill, if that. The rest of it would be great fun on almost anything.

The Ranger goes down to the Snowdon Ranger station, but you can turn off to drop back down Telegraph valley to Llanberis which is what we did.

The Rhyd Ddu drops to the village of the same name, that's on the opposite side of the mountain.

Whats the consensus on best (easiest/quickest) ascent and the best (fun + technical madness) descent?

The consensus seems to be Llanberis up and Ranger/Telegraph down as the best value-for-money-and-time, which is why we did this route. Going down straight to Llanberis looks like it would be excellent fun though, and all rideable by a lightweight mincer sensible person with a family to worry about (like me), unlike the Ranger...

Nope, it doesn't kick in until May 1st. Having said that, we got down at 10.15-ish, and the ban is between 10am and 5pm. And it doesn't cover the Telegraph valley BW, so we would have been well clear of the restricted area even if we'd done it after the ban started, punctures included. We didn't kill ourselves rushing to get round, so it's definitely possible to do the ride even when the ban is active if you get up early enough.

We went up the Llanberis path and down Rangers/Telegraph. The last bit of that Telegraph bridleway is awesome, so fast but you just need to make sure you hop over the water bars! I actually enjoyed the climb up to the top, rode most of it. I found the hardest bit was the steep road bit at the start.

I did it on my fs and felt like I benefited on the rockier bits (going up as well as down) but my mates did it on hardtails fine, admittedly a lot slower but they're fairly new to riding so more rider than bike I think.

The last bit of that Telegraph bridleway is awesome, so fast but you just need to make sure you hop over the water bars!

Yeah, that's where we had our punctures. You need to watch out for the sheep too, they're suicidally daft.

You're not wrong about that bit of tarmac at the start, it's not exactly a gentle warm up. The bit just before and after the Cloggy railway bridge is very steep too, and we were saving ourselves for the down. That's my excuse anyway.